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As required by Article 17 of the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market (EU 2019/790) on the use of protected content by online content-sharing service providers, the European Commission will organise a stakeholder dialogue to discuss best practices for cooperation between online content-sharing service providers and rightholders.

Objectives and timing of the stakeholder dialogue

The objective of the dialogue will be to hear stakeholders’ views and to discuss possible practical solutions for the application of Article 17, including actions to be taken by online content-sharing service providers with regard to unauthorised content, taking into account the interests of all relevant parties and the safeguards for users. The outcome of the discussions will feed into the preparation of the Commission’s guidance on the application of Article 17, referred to in the Directive.

The Commission will hold the first meeting of the stakeholder dialogue on 15 October, in Brussels. The objective of the first meeting will be to start mapping out existing practices related to the use of copyright-protected content by online content-sharing service providers in cooperation with rightholders, as well as to gather user experiences. Further meetings will be organised until the end of 2019 or early 2020. The final dates for the meetings will be confirmed in due time.

Invitation to representative organisations to express their interest to participate in the stakeholder dialogue under Article 17 of the Copyright directive

The Commission would like to invite relevant representative organisations of stakeholders, in particular EU level representatives of rightholders, of online content-sharing service providers and of consumers, users and fundamental rights organisations to express their interest to participate in the stakeholder dialogue by filling out the dedicated online application form, at the latest by 18 September 2019.

The Commission will be able to invite up to 80 individual representatives of stakeholder organisations to the dialogue meetings. The number of seats per organisation may vary depending on their composition and representativeness. Representatives of EU Member States will also attend the dialogue. The Commission will select representative organisations taking into account, as a priority the following criteria:

Organisations represent the interests of rightholders, online content-sharing service providers or users, including consumer and fundamental rights organisations, related to the application of Article 17;

Organisations have a legitimate interest in discussing the best practices for cooperation between online content-sharing service providers and rightholders in the context of Article 17 because they are directly impacted by that cooperation;

Organisations have some practical experience related to the matters regulated by Article 17;

Representative organisations operate at European level.

To this end, when filling out the dedicated online form, interested organisations are required to provide:

Their registration number in the EU Transparency register, where applicable;

Background information on their organisation, such as a short explanation of whose interests the organisation is representing, including information regarding their membership and where applicable, representativeness of the interests of a given sector,

A short explanation on how Article 17 will impact the activities/interests of the represented stakeholder group, and

Information on the pertinence of their experience and the ways they could contribute to the stakeholder dialogue, mentioning where possible, some specific practical examples relating to their experience and current activities in the field.

The Commission will make the final selection of the participants to the dialogue. The selection will ensure that all relevant stakeholders impacted by Article 17 are appropriately represented. Besides the regular participants, some further stakeholders may be invited on an ad hoc basis to share their expertise or participate in the discussions on specific issues. Beyond the dialogue meetings, the Commission will remain available for discussions and written submissions by all stakeholders to ensure that all relevant stakeholders can express their views.